Helper A.L. stays in perfect play

Last Wedneday Helper took on Granger at home as a league game. They won 10-3.

Then they went into tournament play (their own) against Kearns on Thursday and beat them 6-0. Friday night was another win. This time it was a 15-1 drubbing of Highland and the game also counted as a league game.

An All-star team called Utah's Perfect Game (UPG) tripped up the Helper boys for a minute as UPG beat Helper 10-6, during the tournament, but Helper jumped beck into the win column over Cyprus with a 16-7 victory on Sunday to wrap things up.

Against Granger, Josh Denison started on the mound and was relieved by Dylan Vogrinec. Denison struggle a bit and a lot of it was due to the fact that he had not pitched for a week or two. Voginec came in and got the win. Helper's offense started of very slow but picked it up in the 3rd inning with four runs crossing the plat. They added six more in the fourth. They had bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings but did not score. Kash Jewkes and Beau Rich each had a pair of singles Keny Seals had two doubles and Daniel Peczuh added a single and a homer.

Helper: 10 - 12 - 1

Granger: 3 - 4 - 3

WP-Vogrinec, LP-Lloyd. 2b-Seals(H). Hr-Peczuh(H).

Helper's tournament began on Thursday and they started off with Kearns. Beau Rich pitched a complete game and did a great job.

"This was a very well played game. Rich really kept Kearns guessing all night and we played good defense behind him. Our bats were a little quiet too as the Kearns pitcher did a a great job also," said coach Jeff Cisneros after the game.

Rich and Daulton Nelson each had a double. Helper broke the game open with four runs in the 7th inning Peczuh had two-run long ball in that inning.

Helper: 6 - 6 - 2

Kearns: 3 - 3 - 2

WP-Rich, LP-Paulson. 2b-Vogrinec(H), Nelson(H), Rich(H). Hr-Peczuh.

Friday night's game was against Highland. A huge crowd turned out to watch and was treated to a demostration of how good Helper is this season. Everyone contributed in scoring runs as Helper pounded out 14 hits. Gage Bigelow had a great night on the mound as he struck out 10 batters and did not allow a hit. The game ended by the 9-run rule. Bigelow was helped out by solid defense behind him like the diving catch in center field by Julian Tamllos helped preserve the no hitter.

"This was a good win and it ran our league record to 7-0." added Cisneros, "We currently sit alone in first place in the Salt Lake Valley League."

Helper: 15 - 14 - 1

H-land: 1 - 0 - 4

WP-Bigelow, LP-Naranto. 2b-Peczuh(H),Bolotas(H), Denison(H).

Utah's Perfect Game (U P G)is a team made up of kids from Lehi, Maple Mountain, Jordan and Lone Peak High schools. They are not an American Legion team but rather a team that travels and plays in tournaments.

Both teams combined for 11 errors in a rather sloppy game. Colter Moore started on the mound for Helper and ran into trouble in the third inning. U P G scored five in the first 3 innings. Helper committed four errors to help allow the scoring from UPG.

Bradon Bolotas came on to pitch and Clint Finkbiner closed out the game on the mound. U P G scored five more over the next four innings to take the win.

Helper had seven hits, but they were all singles.

"Saturday nights game was in my opinion between the two best teams in the tournament." Cisneros remarked, "We left the bases loaded in the third inning and again in the fifth inning. This was good team for us to play and they went on to the win the Championship of the tournament with a win over Kearns on Sunday. Playing teams like this will definitely help us prepare for the upcoming state tournament. Even though we lost there were many good things that we did and allot of things that we seen that we can do better."

Helper: 6 - 7 - 6

U P G: 10 - 8 - 5

WP-Kemp, LP Moore. 2b-Snyder(UPG), HR-Larson(UPG)

Sundays game had Helper set up to play Western Slope Colorado, but because of scheduling issues they faced Cyprus instead. They beat Cyprus 15-6 by the nine run rule to take third place.

Seth Tryon and Moore had a homer. Finkbiner had a pair of singles and Jewkes had a single and a double. Vogrinec started on the mound and picked up the win and Denison bounced back and pitched two solid innings as well.

"Overall I was very pleased with the tournament, said Cisneros as he sumed things up. "Again the local support was tremendous. I've seen a lot of good things throughout the weekend and that included the play from the Price Legion Team. In every one of their games they showed that they can play with some of the bigger programs and really hold their own. Nico Velasquez and Anthony Montoya from the Price team made the all-tournament team and they really played well."

He went on to say, "Our play was good at times and bad at times, but that is baseball. We need to continue to get better and we jump back into league games this week with a game at West. Peczuh and Tamllos made the all-tournament team from our team. Because of his pitching performance Friday night, Gage Bigelow recieved the gold glove award. It was a good tourney and I look forward to next year."